


Eight Missed Calls.

by worth_the_risk



Series: Counting. [5]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 18:02:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3701489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worth_the_risk/pseuds/worth_the_risk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>HEY YOU GUUUUUUYS! It has been literally forever. This might be the end of this series, it might not be yet.  I thought it was over two years ago, and here this is! Thank you all so much for your kind and encouraging words in the reprieve, they were lovely to come back to.</p></blockquote>





	Eight Missed Calls.

When he got back from work for lunch and the flat was empty, his brow furrowed. They'd made plans, he knew they'd made lunch plans. He'd sent her a text on his way home, he pulled his phone from his pocket; she'd never answered. He sent another: _where are you, love?_

The fridge. He crossed the kitchen to the refrigerator and checked the little multicolored pad of magnetized paper where he and Molly wrote their 'gone to the grocerys' and 'have a good day at works' and was puzzled even more at the lack of a note. For good measure, he checked the shower, their bed, the laundry room. When he pulled out his phone to check if she'd replied to his text (she hadn't) he hit talk twice; Sherlock was the last person he'd called.

"Case?"

"No, hey Sherlock, you got any idea where Molly is? We had plans for lunch and she's not home, no note, no-"

"Shoes gone?"

The aging detective inspector half jogged across the flat to their doormat. "Her sneakers?"

"Coat?"

"The uh, the light one, and her scarf."

The commandeering voice on the other end of the line sighed heavily and impatiently. "She's in the park."

"Right. Thanks." The phone call was unceremoniously terminated from the other end. Shaking his head, he tucked his phone back into his jacket and grabbed his wallet from the spot on the counter where he"d thrown it. He carefully locked the door behind him before setting off for Regent's Park.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

He texted her again after he'd circled the park three times without any sort of success. _Moll, alright, I'm cold, I'm hungry, I give up, concede defeat. You've officially won hide and seek, if that's what you're playing at._ As he hit send and looked up, his eyes caught on a thick, deep red scarf wrapped around the neck of a petite woman sitting on a bench by herself, watching the playground across from her.

Her chin was resting on her hands, her elbows on her knees, and the gentle breeze was playing quiet melodies through her hair, tugging it across her face. The chill in the air had pinkened her cheeks and the tip of her nose, and a melancholy smile was sitting tentatively on her lips, as though it wasn't quite sure about being there. There were tears woven into her lower lashes, juggling sunlight and shadow and trying to balance without tripping and spilling.  Four or five children were climbing, swinging, screaming on the bright structures, their parents scattered on benches, none of them watching like Molly.

His feet were suddenly quicksanded into the pavement, and his eyes stung. "Oh, God."   _Should I...?_  He blinked, sniffed, looked away.  

There was a man walking along the sidewalk just outside the park, a toddler wrapped up in her winter clothes skipping along with him, pinching his pant leg in her hand.  He was on his mobile, holding a coffee, not paying any particular attention to the precious commodity playing hopscotch beside him.  Greg's face burned with envy.

He looked back to Molly.  She was already facing him, that same sad and knowledgeable smile on her face, tears painting her cheeks.  She waved, patted the bench seat.  He coughed, glanced back at the smiling face, the tight honey colored curls, and shuffled to the woman he loved, hoping she'd offer some relief to the weight settling in his lungs.

**Author's Note:**

> HEY YOU GUUUUUUYS! It has been literally forever. This might be the end of this series, it might not be yet. I thought it was over two years ago, and here this is! Thank you all so much for your kind and encouraging words in the reprieve, they were lovely to come back to.


End file.
